World Inspired Landscapes: Peru

 

Peru has a long history and perhaps one of the longest history of civilization that goes back to very ancient times. Even in the pre-Columbian era it was incredibly diverse, both culturally and with its flora and fauna. Like many South American countries, they gained relative freedom when the Spanish Empire collapsed in the early 19th century. It seems the country has had continuous difficulties politically and environmentally. Open pit mining and deforestation are big problems there, made worse by climate change. Its a big country too, over 35 million people and an enormous metropolis of Lima. To make the painting, instead of researching it on the internet or with books, I asked Cilei to explain to me what Peru was like since she has actually been there. As she related the stories I made this interpretive painting, the colours she mentioned were grey and caramel, with green, and a mostly 'vertical' appearing landscape. Then she continued with a story of how when the train stopped a large group of indigenous local people seemingly came out of nowhere and tried to sell goods to the people on the train. So I was running out of space on the sheet with all the experiences she had in Peru, you see the train scene on the bottom and the grey, caramel and green mountainous landscape with open spaces in the background. 

World Inspired Landscapes: Peru, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4069a)

Sundown on another tree

 

In the first weeks of the COVID19 pandemic I made a 'socially distanced' painting of a tree at nearby Loyola Park, towards the end of winter. I was sitting next to the central building in a small tripod chair as I used to do, and then a lady and a child walked up and started talking to me! So much for the distancing. Today I returned to the same spot on the ride home and caught the scene as the sun was starting to go down. Sadly this tree looks as if its seen better days, the branches and leaves looked kind of sick, although there was no orange line on it which indicates that it will be removed. So it may be sundown on another tree if this one gets cut down. The phrase is also a reference to a painting I did last Friday showing the setting sun through a tree down by the canal. Today's painting was much easier, I painted the sun and sky first using concentric rings of wet-in-wet paint, then worked on the foreground as it dried, finishing with the tree and textural elements.

Sundown on another tree, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4068a)

Its the moon in the sky like a big pizza...

So I couldn't resist after the last blogs, if the moon watchers were going to wait and take pictures then I would go make some paintings! Finding a good angle on the pizza shop I got this view of the supermoon over the fire station. The fire station and pizza shop provided alternative light sources. To get the deep dark blue sky, I stuck the brush in a glob of indo blue (PB60) accidentally and had a big mess on the paper for awhile, then added pyrol orange (PO73) for the celestial blue, and some phthalo blue (PB15) at the horizon line. The joke of course, is the moon in the sky like a big pizza pie!

Supermoon pizza shop, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4066b)

 

There had to be a painting called 'sunflower supermoon' and as a bonus, the partial lunar eclipse started as I painted. The very top of the moon had a fuzzy bite out of it, like a cookie. Superimposing the sunflower over the pharmacy across the street seemed foolish but this is one those paintings where you just have to get the brush out and start painting. The palette was a right mess by the end of it. I brought along the head lamp, just wearing it like a necklace with the light pointed down, this allowed me to better judge the colours. Unseen over my right shoulder is the strong amber light of the Metro grocer in the empty parking lot where I was standing.

Sunflower supermoon, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4067a)

Harvest moon supermoon partial eclipse (sort of)

As I painted, a few old timers walked by with long lens cameras and tripods, asking if I was here to paint the supermoon. I replied, yes when will it be up in the sky? Truth is I had no idea there was a supermoon today, but when they mentioned it, I decided to change the sky from a dusky sunset to a shimmering moon-lit sky, and darkened some of the shadow lines in the painting. So this is sort of what I imagined the moon would look like.The rest of the scene is a condensed view of the Turcot interchange with a train going through. Its a difficult scene to get right, some excellent lines help with composition.  

Harvest moon supermoon partial eclipse, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4065a)

 

Turning my brush to the people with the cameras, I did a quick sketchy painting of the scene. Bridge, city, sunset, highway, and people with long lens cameras, you don't see that every day. The cloud is pink (PR122, PO73) with some yellow-orange on top (PO62 + PY97).

Mooner watchers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4066a)

 

As the previous painting dried I worked on this one, then went back and detailed the previous one. I've used the alternating approach before, especially when it is humid out. The main reason is due to the effect of wet paint. Here, I paint the sky first with a juicy blend of coral and dark blue, then have to let it dry before painting over the bridge spire and houses in the distance. As a watercolour painter, one develops a good sense of planning the painting out so as to avoid things running together.  Although done quick, I kind of like the energy these paintings bring.

Sunset bridge over Decarie, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4064b)

Montreal highways and setting sun

With little time to spare between departing the office and sundown, I headed to the st Jacques overpass near the Decarie where the entire city of Montreal and the southern boroughs are on display. Here, a prominent cell phone tower looms over the multi-tiered highway system. Buildings popped up between the tree canopy.

Tower over highways, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4063a)

 

Stepping back a bit, I could see my shadow standing next to the bike as I painted, wearing a short sleeved shirt. The shirt was plaid but you couldn't tell from the painting. In the background is the twisted mass of highways, and the famous pink house on the old malt factory in the middle. With all the grants and other deadlines you can say that I am up against the wall.

Shadow on wall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4064a)

Painting this scene started with the sunset, then the foreground, followed by a quick sketch of the city, and the addition of dark yellows for the foliage. With low light and high humidity, a watercolour painting will not dry very fast, so I had two paintings going at the same time. As one dried, I worked on the other. It also helped to simplify the technique down to a paint by numbers approach.

Sunset city, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4063b)

Park Extension sidewalk scenes

Park extension is just to the east of TMR neighborhood across the train tracks, and goes all the way to park Jarry. Because there was a big bike race today around Mount Royal I had to walk my bike along sidewalks for sections of the ride, and then decided to ride home through Park Ex to avoid the mess of barriers and spectators. This is a typical food stand selling fried puff balls served with salty soup. I tired it last year and it was good, but now with the pills I try to avoid eating salt it makes me extra dehydrated. 

Yellow umbrella food stand, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4061b)

 

There was not much else on this street and it was time to get home, but this sign post was kind of interesting and gave me another opportunity to put my initials in the scene where the phone number was. This neighborhood has a lot more character than my paintings have conveyed. There is also one of the best wall murals in all of Montreal that I have seen, it is a woman surrounded by a variety of colourful, almost abstract fabrics, as if dancing. There are some great wall murals in Montreal that's for sure. And the restaurants here smelled amazing from the street.

Signs and buildings, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4062a)

Little Italy summer weather still here

After picking up some spices and bulk food at the excellent family-run Anatol spices, I walked the bike up to this shady park at the busy Jarry and st Laurent corner. A bus went by every 5 minutes or so, which made it possible to capture more detail than usual. With all the practice down at Coffee park NDG, I knew how to paint the shady park scene. The interlocking brick is a pale neutral red, made by mixing pyrol red (PR254) with carbon black and water. The shadow over top is some mix of dark blue (PB60) purple (PV55) and a touch of yellow ochre (PY43).

Shady park with bus, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4060a)

 

Sitting in the shady park I could see this gaudy sign out front of the gas station and McDonalds parking lot. There were gulls squawking from the sky, probably looking for french fries. I made a joke here with the M of the sign, making it look the same as the seagulls, which were painted with the classic M shape too. McD birds! 

McDonald sign and gulls, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4061a)

 

In Park Jarry there is an artificial pond surrounded by willows, reeds and teeming with seagulls floating around. They were digesting the french fries no doubt. But still, it was neat to seagulls doing what comes naturally to them, which is spending time in the water. I see them on the Lachine canal sometimes, and out in the river downtown. To make the willow tree colour I varied a mix of orange yellow (PY110), dark green (PBk31), yellow (PY97?) and a bit of black where needed (PBk6). I have so many tubes of yellow now I loose track of which is on my palette, they are all the same basically. The orange yellow PY110 is different though, its half way between yellow and orange. Mixing it with the greens makes for a variety of olive tones that can be quite handy.

 Gulls on Pond, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, September 2024 (No. 4060b)